Maven Mule

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Vodafone and Ziggo; the latter is a subsidiary of a US-based company called Liberty Global. We provide internet services for both consumers and businesses. I’m focused on B2B and am the manager of our Salesforce center of excellence (CoE). We maintain and innovate around Salesforce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Maven Mule?

We hired Maven Mule as a Salesforce development partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Maven Mule provides us with professional services to maintain our Salesforce environment. They also help us innovate to become more digitized, which is core to our ambitions. Initially, we provided them with templates with our branding. We also shared the legal requirements we have to comply with. 

Recently, they’ve set up an order entry tool for our door-to-door sales channel. We have sales agents who knock on entrepreneurs’ doors to see whether they want to purchase our products and services. These agents have a tablet that runs the order entry tool based on Salesforce, which Maven Mule has built. They first delivered an MVP, and since then, they’ve added to the tool incrementally. 

This tool enables agents to make a sales transaction as quickly as possible. The order entry tool runs on iPad and has a map functionality that gives the sales agent an efficient route from one prospective client to another. This route is based on leads that we provide. 

If the prospect decides to purchase with us, the sales agent can submit the order on the tool by filling in customer information. Maven Mule has built a live quotation feature where agents go through the sales cycle, and the customer can see the total subscription cost. Since promotions occasionally differ, the tool tells customers how much they’ll pay in any given period. 

Maven Mule has also set up all our contracting. The order entry tool generates the documents and enables the customers to sign them. We have to comply with European regulations about transparency, so Maven Mule has built that into the functionality; the tool provides an order summary. 

Maven Mule uses as many of Salesforce’s out-of-the-box functionalities but has also written some code using APEX. The document generation functionality runs on the Google Cloud Platform. Maven Mule has also built reports and dashboards to track how many sales we’re generating.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with five developers from Maven Mule. 

How did you come to work with Maven Mule?

When I joined this department, Maven Mule was already our partner. I believe we originally found them through Clutch. We decided to work more intensively with them because they delivered what they promised and were proactive. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around June 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our measure of success is the adoption of the tool by our sales agents, as well as the agents successfully generating sales. Given Maven Mule’s expertise, they’re very capable partners in supporting us. 

How did Maven Mule perform from a project management standpoint?

We use the Agile methodology internally and have asked Maven Mule to work in sprints to deliver a new piece within the tool. They log their work into Jira, so everything is documented, and we also use Confluence. As for communication, we use Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Maven Mule really takes ownership of the project and feels responsible for our success, which is rare. They care about the partnership, so they’re output-driven. 

They don’t just provide us with professional services; they strive for the best quality they can achieve and sometimes push back on decisions being made. As a result, I feel very confident about our relationship with Maven Mule. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing negative to say about Maven Mule; our partnership has been really good. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about what you want, and if you’re unsure, allow Maven Mule to help you. They have a lot of experience working with other clients, so that they can offer more than just development; they’re capable of consulting. Listen to what they have to say.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Client Relationship Manager at a consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had issues with the data because we've been using Excell for many years. Our goal was to sort the data, and develop analytics that would help us understand where we are as a company.

SOLUTION

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

We were referred to Maven Mule. The deciding factor was that they already helped a company that had the same issues as we did, and we were told they are trustworthy and proactive and that they have a strong understanding of what we needed.

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

They designed and developed client management solutions. Afterward, they helped us with the data upload and designed workflows that eventually helped us to optimize our work. They also developed reporting and analytics for all departments, so that we could finally understand our clients and their journey.

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

Two people were included in the project, but we were mostly working with the developer who had great project management skills.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the project on time. Within 3 months we were able to fully transition to Salesforce, as all the data and workflows were developed. We decided to keep working with Maven Mule to maintain and improve the solution.

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

The project management was great - all deadlines were met and the communication flow was perfect. We communicated over email, and whenever we needed something - we had meetings over Google meet.

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

1. Communication flow - they were always willing to jump on a call and every email was replied to within a short period of time.
2. Idea generation - they were always quick with providing multiple solutions that were a perfect fit for what we needed

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

No, we're completely satisfied with their service.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of sales for Semaphore. We’re an IT business, and our main and most famous product is a CI/CD tool.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Maven Mule?

We hired them for their cloud consulting services. We had a Salesforce store inside the company, but we didn't have a person to manage it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Maven Mule provided us with cloud consulting services. They helped manage, organize, and build a workflow for our sales funnel. They have already finished that phase of the project, and we plan to reengage with them for monthly consulting services for Salesforce.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people from their side, the CEO and one of their engineers.

How did you come to work with Maven Mule?

We contacted the account manager from Salesforce who is responsible for our region. They provided us with a list of partners who could help us out on our project —  Maven Mule was included in the list.

We decided to go with them because we liked their approach. They were fully focused on my business, and they asked a lot of questions to understand our current issues.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $3,000 for the first phase of the project. We will invest an additional $3,000 for the second phase.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in April 2022, and the partnership is still ongoing since they will be working on other projects with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve done everything according to our requirements, which is the main reason why we plan to continue working with them on the second phase of our project.

How did Maven Mule perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve really good in this regard. They’re supportive, collaborative, and very fast in responding to our emails and Slack messages. We use Jira as our project management tool. We also hold meetings through Google Meet and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their progressive way of communicating and ability to meet all deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

None.

Any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend working with them — they’ve been understanding and highly focused on delivering the right solutions for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Associate Director and Head of Operations, working directly with the Directors and owners and am responsible for creating and improving all the process for how the business works and grows.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had recently moved our entire process over to Salesforce using a freelance salesforce developer who was only available for the build and not able to provide any ongoing or further support. The build was excellent but there have been many further amends and tweaks we wanted to implement. We also needed to create a bespoke integration between salesforce and our woocommerce (ecommerce) website, with stock synchronization and importing or orders as invoices on completion of a web order.

SOLUTION

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

We were introduced to Maven Mule through a contact who is a recruiter in the field. Maven Mule offered a team of developers, rather than an individual who's ability could be limited. The prices were higher than we had initially desired, but were notably less than we could expect to be charged by an English firm. The team have always been very clear and quick to understand what we are looking to achieve, offering reasoned and sensible solutions.

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

They created a bespoke integration between Salesforce and Woocommerce. This is for stock synchronization - our large product library is constantly and automatically updated on woocommerce whenever stock is added, removed or even just updated.

Any orders placed on line are also synchronized from woocommerce to salesforce, with all the various data points being automatically created and all the required records being populated also. This makes the process for online orders completely automatic up until the point of the order actually being picked for dispatch. There have been various other smaller amends that the team have done for us - this is always done to the highest standard.

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

We worked with 3 people. The director was our inital point of contact and is very hands on. Our main point of contact was the actual salesforce developer and we had another developer who had experience with woocommerce also working on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was completed on time and to a very high standard. Any delays were down to our own capacity. They were always quick to respond and communicating the project status. The end result is exactly what we had hoped for and we are only waiting on completion of the web design for this to go live. We are continuing to work with Maven Mule and have just instructed a second phase large scale project with them.

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

The project was managed by the developers themselves which meant nothing could be lost along the line. They were always available and quick to respond. We used email, Slack and their own service desk.

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

We had direct access to the team, including the director. I'm always impressed with their attitude to the projects we put forward - They were constantly seeking to provide us with the right solution for our problems. Rather than just the solution that we think we need they challenge us and offer intelligent solutions that we might not be aware of. They're always quick to reply and assist.

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

There is always likely to be a problem with the language barrier, but I think both sides are aware of this and take the time to make sure we all understand each other. We have no or limited technological understanding and as we are speaking directly with the developers, sometimes this can cause confusion or delays. But the direct access is also a benefit!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of an international treasury and risk management firm. We employed the services of Maven Mule to design, build and implement a heavily customised CRM management system using a wide range of APIs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We struggled to find a system that could manage live market movements keeping our clients informed as to any material changes at very short notice.

SOLUTION

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

Maven Mule were referred by a personal contact. After a number of fact-finding exercises the board decided that the comprehensive presentation Maven Mule was the most appealing by some way.

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

We predominantly offer clients the possibility of opening FX deals direct with the market. Asymmetrically this would create an open position within the live market and we needed our CRM to monitor this by use of direct price feed APIs.

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

4 people in various departments depending on what level of work was being done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Work completed in a timely fashion and to a very high standard.

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

Slack was the preferred method of ongoing contact.

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

They are always on hand to provide assistance throughout the project. Ended up using Maven Mule for a number of side projects away from the initial engagement.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CPO of a travel technology SaaS platform based on Salesforce

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Maven Mule?

We hired Maven Mule to establish our customer solution architecture best practices and ways of working, and worked with them on several client implementations for the delivery of Salesforce and Kaptio.

SOLUTION

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

The experience of the team is second to none. They have a full understanding of what is needed to deliver a Salesforce project, but also an ISV project which has different sets of challenges and considerations

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

Mavenmule came into existing projects in recovery mode and instantly delivered value to our clients. Without them, we would have not been in a position to successfully deliver the projects into production. During the projects, they also successfully helped us improve our offering and technical implementation capability but identifying areas of the system that were not scalable or easy to extend or configure.

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

Their CEO was our main point of contact, and then we had a team of 3-5 people coming in and out of project as required.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Mavenmule helped us mature our product and delivery capability as a ISV partner.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was totally fluid and we always aligned on the ways of working, the definition of done, and used an agile kanban approach to prioritization. Both companies put great emphasis on customer collaboration and this was key to our combined success.

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

The amount of care and support they were willing to provide was incredible.

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

No, I think they are one of the few Salesforce SIs that really walk the walk and talk the talk. Can't recommend them enough.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a private, family-owned law firm. We have three partners and employ five lawyers. We also have three other operational workers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Maven Mule?

We’re one of the only law firms in Israel that use Salesforce as their sole CRM platform. Through it, we run our business and manage daily tasks and client relations. We wanted to develop the system more and needed all kinds of automation, so we hired Maven Mule.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an introduction meeting on Zoom, where I showed Maven Mule how the system works and stores data. I told them the problem and explained how I wanted the solution to be for the users, and their team did the research on how to solve it. I also described how the filters and criteria would be operated, which their team has worked to implement. 

They ran the initial solutions in a sandbox and sent me a video. They made the modifications I specified and sent it to production. Maven Mule also gave me access to a ticketing system where I could request for each new development I needed done.

So far, they have made a lot of automations on our Salesforce, mainly related to the billing process and task management. We’ve also made an automation for changing task priorities to high when their due dates went below three days. This automation sends email notifications to the user that owns the task, and also sends emails to the admin for certain tasks.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two people from Maven Mule: a customer support lead and a developer.

How did you come to work with Maven Mule?

Maven Mule had an extension called “A5 Documents” on Salesforce AppExchange, which I bought. It generates PDF reports automatically and emails them. 

Later on, I came across an implementation problem and had to make a Zoom call with a support person. I really liked the solution they gave me, so I told the representative that I had a lot of things to develop, unrelated to A5. That’s when they told me about Maven Mule.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is $3,000–$4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Maven Mule around December 2020. We update the system as our business processes change. We have new user requests every 1–2 weeks, so it’s an ongoing process, with no specific start or end.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although I don’t have any metrics for Maven Mule’s work, we are enjoying the collaboration. We mainly work on UI and automations with the team, so I don’t have statistics to show the value of the implementation.

How did Maven Mule perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re professional and on time. Nothing slips away. Maven Mule provides me time sheets and product management solutions on what they’re going to solve first and what can be solved later.

Project management is done through their online helpdesk. I open tickets when I need something new developed. We also use email, and have Zoom or Google Meet calls for more complex requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They respond quickly, and their developers are open-minded about creating out-of-the-box solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m working directly with the developer now. I was working with the service-desk person during the first stage, and that was like having a broken phone. The developer initially wouldn’t understand what I wanted, but they realized quickly that it would be better for me to speak directly with the developer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s better to give them a small project first, to see how it goes. It’ll give an indication of the pricing and the relationship itself. This is true for any company like Maven Mule.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm memeber of managment board in Nas Hajduk association.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were replacing our previous Fan base to Salesforce CRM. Maven Mule was implementing required changes based on requirements that we provided. They provided competence build up to us as users

SOLUTION

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

We selected them due to their experience and good references.

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

First steps included analysis of our needs and current solution used. Maven Mule present to us opportunities for additional features to be incorporated in our work. Migration to new database was done as first steps and synchronization with all other platforms that required information from SF. Afterward customization was done to meet our needs.

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

We have agreed with Maven Mule to rotate several junior developers that were using this project to develop their skills. They have done it in safe play mode with support from more experience colleagues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are satisfied with work that Maven Mule has provided. They were highly responsive and cooperative with implementation of Salesforce we have managed to optimize and automate significant number of work that enabled cost savings. We have also managed to establish better communication and user experience with our fan base. Salesforce enabled to us easier way to do data analytics.

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

We were using Slack platform and Jira tickets for communication and clarification of requirements. We are very satisfied with project management and responsiveness of Maven Mule.

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

Maven Mule was highly professional and dedicated to providing the best solutions. They were very cooperative and ready to adapt to customer needs.

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

No significant comments.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of the CRM-related activities, and our non-profit organization is founded to gather football club fans and include them in our official membership program.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Maven Mule for the implementation of a CRM solution/system in which we could collect members data in standardized way and perform our daily/weekly/monthly operations and reporting.

Our final goals were to:

• standardize our membership related processes
• lower down the time we spend on repeating iterative activities
• get better insight on how our member's satisfaction

SOLUTION

How did you select Maven Mule and what were the deciding factors?

Maven Mule was selected as the partner with a young, but experienced team, familiar with the Salesforce product&technology and willing to work together with us  to build new interesting products on a worldwide known CRM platform.

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

Maven Mule did the end-to-end project implementation, from the analysis and design steps, to development and deployment. Technologies which were used are Salesforce CRM related, with combination of HTML related development and integration related development (in cases where CRM had to be integrated with external systems).

Currently, Maven Mule is working with our organization to fullfill new business needs (development of new features), and again included in the design activities, performing development activities, supporting testing activities and finishing with deployment activities.

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

• CEO
• 1 Senior Developer
• 2 Junior Developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After implementation of the solution, we managed to collect information on around 80 000 of our members, in standardized way, and using this information for regular activities. We used implemented solution to perform around 30 000 memberships per year, integrated with 3 external systems (webshop, fanshop and loyalty systems), and lower down the time of manual membership processing (in case of bank transfers) from around 2 minutes per membership to around 10 seconds per membership. We currently use more than 20 Reports which are implemented in our CRM system and fully based on the CRM data we collect.

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

We used Slack, Jira and email on daily basis to collaborate. No delays from Maven Mule were identified in our project activities.

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

We are impressed with the speed of their development and their extensive support during all of the project's activities. 

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an IT company. We specialize in delivering the best projects or people for projects in IT. We do that for different techniques, frameworks, and more. Our candidates work both remotely and in person for our clients in Holland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Maven Mule?

We had a specific challenge in a Salesforce project in Holland. We needed developers with specific skills and background knowledge, so we reached out to Maven Mule.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed several features in Sales Cloud and some parts in Service Cloud. Basically, we’re doing broad tasks; there is more than one requirement, and more than one skill set is needed. Part of their job is also code optimization. You need senior people for that — reviewing and rewriting code to improve it.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with five developers.

How did you come to work with Maven Mule?

I used to do projects myself in Salesforce, and I built up my own network doing that. The world is sometimes quite small, and I met Maven Mule again and started working with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality Maven Mule delivers has helped us and our clients. In general, their resources are very skilled. Their communication stands out, as does their flexibility. They’re a good partner. I’d definitely recommend them to others.

How did Maven Mule perform from a project management standpoint?

They bring expertise into the project, but they’re not managing it themselves. They deliver specific expertise in agile teams, which are currently managed by either us or our client. We normally communicate over Slack and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of knowledge of the people they bring stands out. Maven Mule brings in capable people that deliver high quality across junior and senior levels.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at the moment. There isn’t one specific topic I would address right now, but everyone can improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The key is to know exactly what specific expertise you want to hire. If your requirements are crystal clear, then there will be strong cooperation. As the client, be sure of what you need.