Mindfire Solutions

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I founded the company in 2009. Symphony is a talent management system designed for the insurance industry. Our target customers are insurance agencies, insurance carriers, consultants, and associatinos.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Until Mindfire, we offered a VBA version of our software. The challenge was to move our current application to the cloud as well as anticipate future development needs. My goal was to have a cloud application we could deliver Q2 in 2019.

SOLUTION

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

I needed a development team was was affordable, proactive, experienced in both front-end and back-end development. Also a team who had the capability to scale with us as we grew. I began reaching out to development resources in late 1027. I chose Mindfore because the sales team made it clear their commitment was for Mindfore to become a part of our organization. Their commitment was truly to put us first, and they were willing to match that commitment with actions.

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

The scope of our project wwas to fully understand the VBA application, create the architecture, determine best development platforms, and anticipate future needs. The further we got in the development process, the more we knew about the application we wanted to develop. There was a balance of scope creep and genuine enhancements/additions for Symphony. The Mindfire mastered both in a professional and capable way.

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

Amitabh was our project leader. We had a primary full-time developer and one additional full-time person to support the developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Deadlines were met. The team did a great job of managing the Issues document and clarifying any questions and concerns. The most notable deliverable is that four years later, I would not change anything in the architecture, UI, or functionality of thee work delivered by our Mindfire team. We could always count on them to get it right the first time. Other than some minor issues, I never had to go back to the team or escalate to Amitabh.

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

Available. Capable, Respectful. Reliable. I dont know when the Mindfire folks sleep. If I had a customer issue, it seemed they were always available. I could always count on a response from either Amitabh or a member of the development team to respond promptly and courteously. Communication is an important part of their management style. If they had a problem or needed clarification - they asked. They are systematic in what they do and ensure they fully understand what is needed before code is written.

As I am from the United States, an initial concern was the language difference in our two countries. Some past experience working with people from India made me hesitant to rely on Mindfire. It became immediately clear that communication would never be an issue. Their written communication was professional and clear. No problems with grammar or clarity of thought. When I spoke with them by phone, I never had a problem understanding what they were saying.

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

I found everyone I dealt with at Mindfire shared a common commitment never to just be a vendor. They were our outsourced in-house development team. They understood our vision and the product we were committed to delivering to our customers. In particular, Amitabh continues to be remarkable in his knowledge, management ability, and understanding of Symphony.

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

As surprising as it sounds, there is nothing I would change. I began coding almost thirty years ago. Worked with many technology resources. I have never encountered any group of people more laser-focus on their commitment to deliver project requirements as the folks at Mindfire.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Systems Development for an insurance sales company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindfire Solutions?

We needed a company that could help us streamline and digitize our life insurance sales processes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Mindfire Solutions to develop custom platforms that support the life insurance sales process for financial advisors and their customers. They build everything custom from scratch.

They’ve helped us build insurance rating engines that supply users with insurance quotes and allow them to enter information related to their customers. That information would then be passed on to the insurance carriers for fulfillment. The platform has all that functionality as well as any compliance and regulation checks that need to be there.

Our projects usually start with the development of our business requirements, which we do in the form of user stories. We follow an agile methodology with Mindfire Solutions, such that those user stories would be entered into the system and then worked from inception to production implementation. They work with the QA team to get everything completed and put into production. We may or may not do a production release at the end, depending on when the business is ready to have things pushed out. 

Technologies used include Angular, .NET, and JavaScript. 

What is the team composition?

We currently work with 10 developers from Mindfire Solutions.

How did you come to work with Mindfire Solutions?

We found Mindfire Solutions through online research.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $1.5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our main success metric is our ability to retain customers and process sales efficiently, thanks to Mindfire Solutions' top-notch development support.

How did Mindfire Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Mindfire Solutions has performed well in terms of project management. They’re extremely dedicated, and they do whatever it takes to get things done and ensure that our software and platforms are performing as they should.

We use Microsoft Azure DevOps for collaboration and project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Mindfire Solutions’ biggest strengths are their technical aptitude, dedication, and strong work ethic. They’re also excellent at integrations and building security controls into their code.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time to invest upfront. It may take their developers a bit of time to learn your environment, but the investment is well worth it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the President of an educational tour operation with two offices in the US, serving grade 5-15 public and private schools in the northeastern US states.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had a fragmented custom software system that used multiple platforms, designed by a very small firm that was no longer able to keep up with our company's expanding software requirements and rapid development schedule.

SOLUTION

How did you select Mindfire Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

We moved our custom software development projects to Mindfire after providing them with a test sample database and a deadline to create an integrated back-office web-based framework from scratch for our company’s unique needs.

Four recognized international software development companies were issued this same challenge, and Mindfire was the only one to successfully complete the task as specified.

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

We had a fragmented custom software system that Mindfire completely updated, revamped, streamlined, and thoroughly modernized using several approaches not offered by other companies.

How many people from the Mindfire Solutions team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were always between four and six experts on the Mindfire team who were involved in daily basis to meet the challenges that we presented.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our top management is thrilled with the increased level of staff efficiency demonstrated by our frontline representatives, and our webmaster is duly impressed with Mindfire’s quick response and thorough technical support whenever urgent web or server issues arise.

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

Mindfire's system approach to every issue included a separate test server, thorough deep testing first by the Mindfire developers and then by our own staff, and a final push to our Production server followed by more testing at both ends. This detailed approach consistently ensured a smooth transition and reliable functionality.

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

Mindfire’s team approach that presents each project through multiple experts with separate key skills within a designated timeline, propelled our software to new heights. The Mindfire team also offered suggestions to streamline workflow and accelerate our database response time.

Our staff is now eager to offer software upgrade suggestions, knowing that the Mindfire team will deliver every time.

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

We are impressed with their efficiency, accuracy, professionalism, and responsiveness in the partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and CEO of the company. We run an image-editing service and imaging AI software services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We worked with Mindfire to develop a customer-facing website and back-office management system for our new service. It included a membership website, connection to a payment gateway, and structured object-oriented operational workflow. Our goal was to launch the service as quickly as possible with a minimum requirement, but including a high-level design for extensive features to post the launch.

SOLUTION

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

Based on working with a couple of independent software vendors in India for 10 years, they were the best in view of talent pools, and coverage of multi-layer expertise.

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

We did about a month of upstream discussions of the required technology stack, resources, and goal of the project. Then we get a shortlist of engineers with multiple parts of the role.

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

Total 6 guys.

• A scrum master
• an UI/UX designer
• a frontend developer
• 3 backend developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It is still going on. The project was well managed in a theoretical agile manner. Sprint and tasks are being discussed in stipulated iteration and being updated timely. Testing is running along with the development, too.

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

We streamline the communication using:

• JIRA
• Google Drive
• Slack
• Figma
• Miro

Updates are happening timely.

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

They have a very good communication flow, showing flexibility and smooth development operations.

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

Specific technology stack like MLOps, HPC, etc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the President & GM of InspekTech who provides building Appraisals and Risk Assessments for Insurance purposes in residential, commercial, and light industrial areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

IT system development and APP engineering. Upgrades to our LAMP environment and servers + custom developmen of a Field APP.

SOLUTION

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

We looked at firm integrity, IT skill levels, project mgmt ability, fair pricing, planning competencies, relationship, and communication-work accessbility.

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

Determination of best code updates to our existing LAMP environment that runs the backend of our web portal that is both client and internally facing. Ongoing system upgrades and enhancements alongside custom development of a Field APP from scratch, all on going work.

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

We primarily work with 3 main people of which one is a full-time IT engineer for us. Together they represent highl project planning and IT development roles in our firm.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ours has been a large project(s) involving mutli-faceted outcomes measurable by time and achievement to goals within a flexible framework. We're very happy with ongoing deliverables as work continues.

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

We love the project management style as it's one of being formal when needed (intense planning) and informal when possible. Communication happens often and all players at Mindfire that we work with are very accessible - this is huge for us. We always know what's going on and if we get out of the loop, it's easy to get back up to speed.

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

Past IT awards (Deloitte, D&B, Zinnov, etc.), integrity, IT skills, project mgmt ability, fair pricing, planning competencies, relationship, and work-communications accessbility.

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

Pricing model is a little inflexible in that if you have little IT work in a given period, you still pay full price for the IT Engineer(s). Or sometimes you may need to just pause and come up for air and regroup, but of course billings still occur (and fair enough, that's the price you would pay for a full-time employee anyway). Even with that, Mindfire has worked with us when we did need to pause for a month or two, and they were very good to discuss pricing at a couple of stages in that regard - and were very cooperative to our benefit.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Solutions Architect at BYL Risk Management. We provided accounts receivable outsourcing and background screening services to our clients across many industries, primarily in healthcare and property management. We also offer custom development to our clients that need to provide services back to their customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had a few big opportunities come up that required a sudden ramp-up of multiple teams. We needed good full-stack .net/SQL developers and Mindfire delivered. We were up and working in our project within a week

SOLUTION

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

We have known of Mindfire for a few years through a friend that had been working with them for 10 years. They came strongly recommended.

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

We provided top level design documents, interface UML and SQL models, from which we worked together on creating our Jira backlog. We use the Microsoft technology stack, .NET core V6

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

We are currently working with 2 skilled developers and a technical manager. We are in the process of adding 2 more developers and then another 2 after next month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The sprints are starting and completing as planed and we are on track.

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

Our project manager is involved in the conversations, catching potential pitfalls, making technical suggestions and keeping resources aligned and the project on track.

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

We receive complete care from the developers up to senior management. We were just on a call today with upper management where they were making suggestions on the resources and skill sets that we will need for the upcoming months.

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

Not at this time

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own planitretail. A marketing and media agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Mindfire to build out our software application that supports our internal team which includes making feature enhancements and general support ongoing.

SOLUTION

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

Experience and scalability at a moments notice

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

Much of the application has been written in python. We regularly collaborate on feature enhancements as well as trouble shooting over web calls. The software is web based.

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

mostly engineers and senior engineers. Typically ranges from 2-4 developers with all work prioritized and directed by me and my team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Outcomes of deliverables include productive tools utilized by our internal team as well as tools made available for our clients. A variety of new challenges have been sent to Mindfire and they consistently produce results and figure out solutions even of it is something the team has not built before.

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

We use Google chat and shared docs for collaboration with the team. Significant time difference is manageable. Aligning to and meeting deadlines can be challenging but that is also a function of ever changing specs as well.

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

I am impressed with their ability to find solutions for almost all of the projects that we assign them.

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

Ability to meet deadlines can improve

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

SID is an association of scientists and engineers involved in R&D of Displays (Touch/Flexible). I am Sr. Technical Program Manager at SID which has 40 chapters around the globe. I manage all technical projects that SID needs for its websites/members db/events (virtual + onsite)/publishing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

SID members' database utilities and website functionality needed enhancements. Our goals were to deploy the enhancements with minimal service interruptions and in a timely manner such that there were no disruptions to our scheduled conferences with audience across the globe.

SOLUTION

How did you select Mindfire Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

We have worked with Mindfire in the past (since 2013) as they were one of the recommended DNN (Microsoft .Net) app development consulting firms. They were quick to respond to our initial RFQ with a very competitive quote. Their engineers have been good to work with - understanding the project requirement with concrete development and support.

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

One of the critical deliverables was the upgrade of DNN installation which was a breaking release as many of the outdated TLS dependencies had to be tested and the apps that depended on it had to be enhanced. The staging environment was refreshed and DNN upgrade, app enhancement was tested before deployment to production.

Another major deliverable was the reskinning of entire SID websites (sid.org and displayweek.org) which was also tested in staging before deployment to production.

How many people from the Mindfire Solutions team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were 2 people assigned for our project from MindFire one engineer and a technical lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project commenced with successful launch of the newly designed website and enhanced web apps with minimal interruptions to our members.

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

All communications were done via email and Skype instant messaging. The engineers were quick to respond to my concerns even though at times situation got tough given the Covid-19 outbreak in their region and time difference.

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

The team was professional in understanding and deploying the project.

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

There is always room for improvement in any project, maybe more diligent testing and research will help with fewer disruptions in deployment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CEO of a software company which develops software for Media companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were dealing with expensive software licensing issues with a previous technology and needed to develop and build our software in the Cloud.

SOLUTION

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

After doing a search for a new developer, we found that Mindfire had the right skills, support, and pricing. One of the most important factors in making a decision was ensuring we had high visibility into the development process and very strong communication between their team and ours.

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

A complete rebuild from an older licensed software product to a completely new technology on the cloud. I prefer not to get into a deep dive of the technologies we are using.

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

We have 4 Mindfire Staff working on this with us, including 2 Developers, 1 Project Manager/Team Lead and 1 Q/A person.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are continually in development on our products in order to be competitive in our fast-moving market. Our overall "measurable outcomes" are basically that my clients are happy with the end-product and feel like whatever we develop makes them more effective and efficient. Mindfire has made this possible for us.

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

We had weekly meetings to discuss progress, clarify any required features and functions and also opened a Skype/WhatsApp Group to keep up to date on any questions/concerns/updates.

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

Mindfire continually brought in any needed talent to support any aspects of project that needed deeper consulting without adding any extra costs to our budget. If our Team needed extra support from the Mindfire team of developers across different disciplines, they brought them in for us.

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

Overall, they did an excellent job. I would say that there were periods where my company had a lot going on and we weren't supportive of the goals we had all set-up together so some timelines lagged because of my company and team not being more on top of the project plan.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Genesis Media Group, Inc., a software development firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindfire Solutions?

We needed a company that’s experienced in DNN, .NET, and C# to augment our development team and assist us in bigger software development projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Mindfire Solutions to assist us in our software development projects. We have internal programmers in our team, but we use Mindfire Solutions whenever we need to scale up and accommodate bigger projects. Their main responsibilities include mobile and web app development and app store optimization.

Recently, they’ve helped us develop a mobile application for one of our clients using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. They helped us do some customizations on the app’s shopping cart and handle several API integrations, which included payment processing services, tax calculation services, and payment solutions for our client’s distributors.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with a team of four programmers and one project manager from Mindfire Solutions for most of the projects.

How did you come to work with Mindfire Solutions?

Mindfire Solutions actually contacted me years ago to ask if I needed some offshore programmers. I gave them a small project to see how they would perform. They delivered excellent work, so we decided to work with them on more projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000 in total so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2012, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over the last 10 years, Mindfire Solutions has been involved in most of our projects. I can definitely say that they’re excellent at what they do — we wouldn’t have continued working with them if we weren’t pleased with their work.

How did Mindfire Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Mindfire Solutions has performed exceptionally well in terms of project management. They use an internal project management system and we also have a shared Google doc where I can give them access to the work I’m doing. We’ve never had any issues with timelines — they’re always on time, if not ahead of schedule.

We primarily communicate with them through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm really impressed with Mindfire Solutions’ strong work ethic and high-quality work. I also appreciate how they're always willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done and make sure it’s delivered on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had minor communication issues before, which we were able to resolve very quickly. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything else they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to be clear about what you want to achieve and to document it very well. The Mindfire Solutions team is very intelligent — if you give them proper documentation, they can take the project and run with it.